Dream Catcher
by VeltPunch
Summary: NarutoxSK. There were two things Naruto noticed when he opened his eyes. This was definitely not Konohagakure for one, if those red looking cliffs were anything to go by, and there was a strange boy with orange headphones staring at him.
1. Welcome to the Jungle

_Yupp. I just...I dunno, wanted to write this for an odd an unexplained reason. But hey, my muse being random is what I live for. _

* * *

The first thing Naruto noticed was that the cliff rocks above him were made out of some sort of red substance that he had reminded him of Sunagakure dunes and red sand that that Sasori guy was known for.

The second was that there was someone's face in front of him.

"GAH!"

He jumped. The boy blinked.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" He asked innocently.

"Yeah." Naruto panted slightly. "You did. What gives, man?"

"Sorry!" The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "My names Asakura Yoh. What's yours?"

Asakura? And what was this boy wearing? You couldn't run in that coat…but he did have a sword. He may be dangerous. But where was his (1)hitai-ate?

"Uzumaki Naruto." He said breezily. "And where am I? And who are you? What village are you from?"

"Village?"

The boy was looking at him strangely. He took notice of the boy's friends standing behind him. Or were they teammates? They all wore weird clothes, and not all of them had weapons. One had a Kwan do, the other a…was that a snowboard? And there was a man with a wooden sword. What odd people.

"Uhm, I'm not entirely sure what you mean. But I'm from Izumo, Japan. We're in America right now."

"Where's America?" He asked quizzically.

The boy in front of him, and all the people behind him face planted into the floor.

"What's with this guy?!" A boy with odd looking blue hair pointed an accusing finger at him. "I mean honestly, how do you not know where America is?!"

"Yoh-dono…I—" A being vaporized beside the young boy, the bottom of the figure was faded out, and he seemed to hover.

Naruto screamed.

"G-Ghost!"

They _all _looked at him.

"Yes, ghost." Yoh nodded, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "I'm a shaman. Aren't you here for the Shaman Fight?"

"Shaman Fight?" Naruto gulped. "What the hell is that?"

The boy looked at him funny again, and was about to say something, when time seemed to freeze. Naruto sighed in relief as he felt a familiar tug erupting from his stomach, and as he opened his eyes he saw familiar cage bars in front of him. At least, there was something he knew. The water dripped from around the sewer, water flowing about him to the drainage pipes. The Shiki Fuuin seemed to be fine, judging from its looming characters in the center of the cage.

"_Brat" _The demon growled. _"That boy is a shaman."_

"What the hell's a shaman?!" Naruto gaped at him.

"_Remember those monks at the temple?_" The Kyuubi asked him like he was talking to a slow, dim-witted child. _"They see spirits and such, and send wandering ghosts to the after world. They are shamans."_

"Oh." Naruto blinked in understanding. "But why can I see ghosts?"

The Kyuubi bared its teeth menacingly, and Naruto remembered that those teeth were about thirteen feet tall. _"I am a demon. You can see me right?"_

"That's true…"

"_Now go away." _The beast growled_. "And next time, tell that frog-smelling human not to mess around with seals, because it seems he's warped us somewhere."_

--

"'Naruto-san?" That Yoh boy asked again. "You seemed to have lost consciousness."

"Oh…sorry." He didn't sound it. "Look, I'm not from around here. And honestly, I don't think I'm a shaman, and I'm definitely not participating in this… 'Shaman fight' or whatever."

"Yoh-dono…" The ghost began again, and Naruto tried not to pale at the sight of a…ghost. "I don't believe this boy is from, this…world."

"Where else would he be from?" The boy with golden eyes snorted. "The after world?"

"I'm not dead!" Naruto sighed in exasperation. "And that ghost is right. I'm not from this world. I'm pretty sure I'm actually from another dimension or something, because…I don't know what a Japan _or _an America is."

"But you can see spirits." The man with the afro pointed out. "So you've got to be a shaman."

"I'm not a shaman! I can't do…shamanism, or seal ghosts and demons, or anything like that."

"Oh!" Yoh blinked. "Then you must be like Manta, he can see spirits too, but he isn't a shaman."

"Okay…sure." Naruto sighed. This was going to take forever. "Do you guys know any person I can ask that could get me home somehow?"

They all looked confused. For a while, they said nothing, just mulling about and thinking. While they did, the young boy (who actually turned about to be fifteen!!) came up and introduced himself as some Chocolove kid, and proceeded to tell Naruto who everyone else was. Apparently, the boy was Yoh, and his spirit was Amidamaru, a samurai. There was Ren and his spirit Bason, HoroHoro and Kororo, and Ryuu and Tokagero. Then there was Faust and Eliza, his dead wife. That was scary. But they weren't here right now.

"I suppose…" Yoh finally mumbled. "You could ask the Patch to communicate with the Great Spirits, they could probably get you home."

Ren nodded in agreement. "That would be the only possible way, besides entering the Shaman Fight."

"Well, okay. But who are the 'Patch' and what are the 'Great Spirits'?"

They all looked at him strangely, before remembering that he wasn't exactly a shaman or from around here.

"The Patch is a tribe that can communicate with the entity that all souls come back to, called the Great Spirits. They are the ones that are running the shaman fight." That HoroHoro kid explained slowly. "But before you ask, the Shaman Fight is a fight between shamans that will determine who will rule the world for the next five-hundred years."

Naruto gulped. "That sounds harsh."

They all shrugged.

"You should travel with us." Yoh smiled. "Company is always—

"HoroHoro, above you!"

"Eh?!"

HoroHoro quickly jumped out of the way as a large iron looking knight dropped from the sky.

"What the _hell _was—

"Ah…it's finally our turn, but…"

Naruto looked up to see three girls—dressed just as oddly as they boys in front of him—the leader of the group seemed to be the one with cobalt colored hair. And the other two were flaxen and ginger-haired. Naruto blinked, as he noticed that one girl had some sort of pumpkin, and the other was holding a doll. Were those spirit things like the ones that Yoh and his friends had?

"…how disappointing, you're just a bunch of careless brats." The bluenette finished.

Naruto would have been angry had he not been as confused as to what the hell was going on around here. Were they…going to fight them? With spirits?!

Ren pointed his Kwan do at them. "Who are you all?"

The ginger-haired girl with pig tails smirked, leaning on her broom. "Why are you all acting so important?"

"I don't know why you came here but… if you touch us, you'll be burned." That Ryuu guy—with the really, really, _really _odd hairdo stepped forward.

He then winked at them, and the blond stepped back. "Mari feels sick…"

Honestly, Naruto would feel sick too if that weird guy winked at him too. Even in Orioke no Jutsu form. That Ryuu guy…he was just a walking fashion disagreement. These girls though, didn't exactly look friendly nor did they look like they came to chat. Naruto had come to the conclusion that these Shaman people fought with these spirit ally people, and that they were all getting ready to fight.

"Super shock!" Ryuu seemed devastated that the Mari girl didn't like him.

"What a nuisance!" The orange haired witch rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe Hao-sama is worried by these people." The bluenette added.

_Hao-sama…? _Naruto wondered. _Who's that? _

He sounded important.

Apparently he was, because HoroHoro blinked. "You're with Hao?!"

The bluenette narrowed her eyes. "It's rude not to address him properly."

Somehow, as Naruto sweat-dropped comically, these girls reminded him of those batshit crazy minions Orochimaru had back when he was Gennin. Now that he was Chuunin though, it didn't really have the same scary affect it used to. The armor suddenly moved, as if on the blue haired girl's command, arms unfolding and gripping its weapon. Amidamaru dissolved next to Yoh as the staff was pointed at the young shaman.

"Hey you. Don't you feel sorry for Hao-sama? Only being able to use such a meager Oversoul?"

"Oi, Chocolove." Naruto whispered fiercely. "What's an Oversoul?"

The African American shot him a look before whispering, "It's where you fuse with your ghost or spirit partner, and it's a way that we fight."

"Ah." Naruto nodded slowly.

Yoh blinked at Kanna's words. "Huh? Meager?!"

"You're weak because you use a human spirit." The bluenette narrowed her eyes.

"Amidamaru is strong." Yoh rebuked calmly.

Kanna laughed. "This is why Hao-sama is sad. The person himself can't see his weakness."

"I don't care what Hao thinks." Yoh narrowed his eyes.

Well, there were a few things that Naruto could piece together after listening to where this conversation was going. Whoever this Hao person was, he was apparently strong and had a lot of followers, and this had something to do with Yoh. Maybe this Hao person wanted Yoh to join him? These girls obviously were here to fight, but it seemed—from the way the armor held its sword in a more offense way—that they weren't here to kill. Just to…test maybe? Either way, this was confusing.

Kanna put a hand to her head and sighed. "You've angered me enough."

"Let's hurry up and kill them." The blond—Mari—added.

Naruto sighed. Maybe they _were _going to kill them.

"Ashcroft!"

The great hunk of armor began to move, swinging its sword menacingly, if not a tad slow. Yoh quickly did the same, blocking the sword with his own. Naruto noticed that the ghost by his side had suddenly disappeared, but now there was some sort of armor attached to the sword, that glowed an iridescent blue.

"What's the meaning of this?!"

The girls had yet to move, the bluenette smirking. "We're going to make you understand how weak you guys are."

"We have to make you realize that you can't be of help to Hao-sama in your current condition." The ginger haired girl smiled.

Okay…so they weren't going to kill them? How confusing!

"I don't understand…" Yoh frowned, struggling with the blunt sword the knight had him pinned with.

"You'll understand eventually, even if you don't want to. So why don't you just accept it?"

Ryuu came from behind, the Tokagero spirit apparently Oversoul'd with the wooden sword, and he chopped the thing into bits. Naruto narrowed his eyes, the broken bits seemed to stay stationary in the air, before easily coming together again. The Shinobi would have called it Chakra strings, however, these people didn't use Chakra. Whatever they used, it was different.

"How about you get to the point?!" Ryuu growled at the girls.

Soon enough, they had all used their Oversoul, HoroHoro's seemed to be some sort of snowboard thing, and Ren's was molded around his Kwan do. Chocolove—who had been standing beside him—sprang into action as well.

The fighting continued, all the group verse the girls, and from what Naruto could tell, things weren't going entirely well. At all. These girls were much stronger than them for one, and they seemed to be almost…toying with the boys. Naruto mused, that they didn't seem _too _particularly strong. If anything, they were nothing more than Gennin battling it out. But that Hao person they had mentioned, seemed to be more of a problem for the boy's in front of him.

Suddenly, the boys started going down.

Ren was defeated first, falling to the ground with a thud. Naruto didn't have to look to know he was still alive though. Then HoroHoro, the weird doll shot bullets at him and the boy had made a wall of ice to protect himself, but they went through it. The Chocolove.

"It's your turn, Asakura Yoh." Kanna smirked at him.

Yoh charged at them with some attack name that Naruto couldn't hear over all the racket, but that Ashcroft thing seemed to be fully able to withstand the attack.

"Now it's our turn."

"Oi." Naruto growled. He honestly didn't want to be bothered to fight. "Forgetting someone?"

The girls narrowed their eyes. Apparently, they weren't informed of his arrival.

"Fine then." Kanna didn't seem to mind. "You can try—

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!"

The girls widened their eyes, as did the boys who were struggling to get up. Naruto had leapt into the air until he was higher than the cliff the girls had placed themselves on, doing weird things with his hands before he blew massive fireballs. The girls quickly jumped out of the way, collecting their Oversouls and frowning. That wasn't expected.

"Hao-sama's element?" One whispered.

Huh. Naruto grinned. So that Hao person used Fire.

"I don't know who you weird chicks are," He began, charging up a Rasengan. "But I don't care either. Rasengan!!"

The girls could barely dodge.

Ashcroft met him first, leaping into the air to protect its master and the other two witch looking girls, but he was quickly turned into nothing more than a heap of metal. Apparently, Chakra nullified Furyoku. The spinning ball that had the force of a hurricane was coming at the girls fast, and they tried to leap out of the way.

However, the Rasengan was able to get parts of them, before it took a massive chunk out of the rock the size of an enormous crater. Yoh and his friends gasped. They hadn't realized how powerful Naruto was, or the fact that he had power at all.

The girls held their wounds and growled, fear stricken as they watched the smoldering hole from the attack that had blasted a good 50 feet of rock into the air.

As they gathered the attacks again, something else besides Naruto's impressive attacks met them.

The girls gasped, as they recognized the blue and red figures out of the dirt and dust that had picked up as something destroyed Ashcroft again.

"Zenki and Kouki!" They yelled.

Sighing, Naruto was relieved that he didn't have to show off any more then he already did. He didn't know if it would be a problem or not later on.

A woman—or a girl, really—with a frown etched on her face that reminded him remotely of Tsunade, held a large string of pearl white beads in her hand. She wore a short black dress, with blue beads that looked like the kind the monks wore at the Hi no Kuni temple back in Konohagakure.

"If you wish to continue." The blond began, and Naruto realized that this was like Tsunade reincarnated or something. "I will be your opponent."

"Zenki Kouki." The bluenette growled. "You are…

"I am Anna, the spiritual medium." The blond began her introduction, in that icy tone. "The woman who will become the wife of the Shaman King."

Naruto sweat-dropped. That was quite the introduction.

"I see so you're…" Kanna took a swift look at the blond, and then her eyes looked back to Naruto, who was still using chakra to stand upright on the rock face. She must have noticed she was out skilled and outnumbered. "Macchi! Mari! Let's go."

"Running away?" Anna frowned.

Kanna smirked. "Hao-sama told us not to get involved with you." Her smirk widened. "We'll forgive you today."

Then they disappeared as if they used a different form of Shunshin. Huh, so this world had a Shunshin variant as well.

"Oi, Naruto." Yoh, he noticed, did not seem entirely mad at him, just surprised. "You have some explaining to do."

* * *

_Huh. So reviews? Thoughts? Come on people...(:_

1. A hitai-ate is like those headbands they wear.


	2. Ballroom Blitz

_Yessh so, I'm going with the fact that Naruto Shippuden finally has a lax Naruto (honestly, the kid was like ADHD to the MAXXXX in the beginning) if you think he's OOC or anything. And sorry, english isn't my first language, sorry if there's like really bad grammar mistakes or anything of the sort. _

"What the hell was that?!" HoroHoro shouted.

It got real quiet, and somewhere, a cricket chirped. Chocolove tried to mimic it, and then Ren poked him with his Kwan Do in the nose. The African American squawked, before gripping his wounded nose and crowing at the other shaman.

Ren turned to look at him. "The idiot is right—(HoroHoro gave an indignant shout at that)—what was that?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, inwardly cringing because he wasn't sure if he was supposed to reveal anything. It couldn't hurt though, and it wasn't like these guys had chakra coils anyways. "Uhm, where I come from, we use this life energy called chakra."

"Chakra?" Yoh echoed. "Like…inner energy and stuff like that?"

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded. "Kinda like how you guys have furyoku. But so, while channeling our chakra into the area around us, we can manipulate elements, and we call'em Jutsu. The Katon Jutsu I used was those fireballs I used. And the other one was a special technique that only I can do called the Rasengan."

"Ah…but…" Yoh pondered with a frown. "What did you do with your hands?"

"Oh! You mean hand seals. That's how we channel the chakra."

"Just because you can use flashy moves doesn't mean you can travel with us." Anna stated coldly, folding her arms.

"But Anna-sama! You saw what he did to those girls!" Ryu protested.

Ren scowled, but agreed. "He is formidable."

Naruto grinned cheekily.

Anna stared at him, frowned, and then said that if he was going to be useless, she was going to kick him out. Apparently, she was the self appointed leader, and Naruto had no intention to mess around with her. Seriously, she _had _to be related to Tsunade, in more ways than one. Everyone seemed to be scared of her, even laid back Yoh, who was smacked for his insolence.

So, Naruto had to run about and set up camp, which, really was, just a lounge chair for Anna, and a fire, so he didn't complain. Ren had to help him with the fire, looking at him like he was stupid when he asked how to use the steel and flint. But Naruto really wanted to ask them why they even used that, when they could just use a Katon jutsu? Then he remembered they didn't have those.

As he prodded the fire in interest, still in awe how these people fought with _spirits. _Honestly, _spirits. _

"Chouji Senji Ryakketsu." Anna said in a soft but cold tone.

"Ah…" Yoh and his friends stared at the beaten book in wonder, supposedly reading this would give them powers like they could not have foreseen.

"Uh, how is a ratty old book like that supposed to do anything?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Anna smacked him, before he could get out of the way.

"Ouch!" He grumbled.

"However," Anna began again. "There's no guarantee that after you see what's inside this, you will be the same again. You may not be in the same mental condition you are now after you read this."

"Like we'll follow Hao?" Ren clarified.

Anna nodded solemnly. "You might. We have no way of knowing what you'll be thinking when you see this, and what you'll do when you get out. Do you still want to do this?"

They all nodded their consent.

Anna whipped out her beads, and Manta whispered to him that it was the powerful one-hundred and sixty beads. He asked Manta what that meant, because he didn't understand what was so interesting about a large necklace with white beads, or what was significant with the number one-hundred sixty. But Manta could only shrug, but he was able to tell Naruto that Anna was an Itako, a kind of shaman. There were apparently a lot of different kinds of Shamans. They had talked about a weird woman who lived inside an Iron Maiden. Now that was weird.

The beads stuck in the air in an odd looking shape, and suddenly, the shape they made glowed inside, and it began to look like a portal.

With one last glance, the boys jumped in.

"What's that?" Naruto whispered.

Anna looked at him slowly. "That is the Chouji Senji Ryakketsu."

So the old ratty book was a portal to somewhere? Maybe it was like the way the Yondaime used three-pronged kunai to transport to different places. What an interesting concept. Before he could ask what exactly the Chouji Senji Ryakketsu was, or what it did, or how it did it, the mood had turned somber. Nothing was said, the only noise was from the portal that sometimes rippled and made odd noises. Naruto wanted to go in there, but he had a feeling only shamans could go inside.

Tamao, the girl with light pink hair, fidgeted a bit, sitting on a rock that was conveniently placed in the ravine.

Anna only stared silently into the abyss of the portal, the translucent and opaque texture let nothing be seen from the outside, or the inside. Manta paced relentlessly, back and force with a frown of anxiety etched into his forehead. Jun, Ren's extremely hot older sister was conversing quietly with her body guard person, whose name was unknown to Naruto at this point. Tamao had explained—with a stutter and blush that matched Hinata's, maybe he just had that affect on people?—that the man was of the undead or something, and the Tao family could actually resurrect their bodies and control them.

The man didn't look like he was being controlled, so something must have happened. Manta groaned, fidgeted and then started pacing again. Apparently, they were worried that Yoh and his friends would lose their mind to this 'Hao' person's ideals. Naruto personally thought they were too strong willed for that, and from the way Anna calmly folded her arms, she thought the same.

"I can't take this!" Manta groaned.

He stalked off, and Naruto sent a worried glance at Anna-designated group leader-but she didn't make a move to go after him.

Deciding that since Manta wasn't going to be able to protect himself if those weird girls came back (he wasn't a shaman, and he didn't have chakra) Naruto went after him.

"What's wrong, Manta-san?" He asked carefully, making sure to be polite like Sakura had taught him.

Manta, sat down, shrugging. "I just feel like…I feel like I can't do anything for Yoh-kun."

"Because you're not a shaman?" Naruto asked carefully. The smaller blond nodded. "Well, I'm sure Yoh-san appreciates that you worry about him, and that you're his friend."

"I know." Manta smiled weakly. "But with people like Hao out there…

"Who _is _Hao?" Naruto asked incredulously, he had been meaning to ask that.

Manta wringed his hands nervously. "I'm not entirely sure either, he's an Onmyouji though."

"What's that?"

"Someone who has mastered all five elements." Manta answered wisely. "And he can reincarnate, so he's pretty much defied death."

Naruto shriveled his nose, thinking of Orochimaru. "Huh. Is that why you guys don't like him?"

"Oh no! We don't like him because he wants to annihilate all humans." Manta added.

"Why would he want to do that?" Why wouldn't he just take over the world? Like the Akatsuki's goal?

"I don't really know."

"As usual, humans do not understand anything."

Manta looked up sharply, as did Naruto. Huh, the blond shinobi hadn't even realized his presence was there. The boy smiled at them condescendingly, and Naruto could tell that he was strong, if the way he body stance was so casual it didn't seem like he thought they posed a threat to him at all was anything to go by.

"H-Hao!" Manta sputtered, looking back the way they came quickly. They were too far, even with the echoes, Anna wouldn't be able to hear them.

So that's Hao.

Naruto eyed him warily, not giving away anything that mean tension in his body stance. The boy was smiling at them, a bit of a smirk actually, with a tan colored cape that swung around his entire upper body, and maroon colored pants with the oddest shoes he had ever seen. Manta looked nervous and frightened at the same time, already up and half turned to run back, but he must have realized already that they were much too far for running away.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked him bluntly. The other boy blinked at him, and Manta nearly gaped.

"Humans do not understand shamans." He said simply. "Shamans and humans simply cannot coexist."

"But Yoh-kun is my friend!" Manta said sharply. "We can get along!"

"But can you?" The boy—Hao—fired back. "Do you really understand Yoh at all?"

Naruto was so confused. Wasn't everyone here human? What else would they be, aliens? Somewhere along the lines of the argument Manta and Hao were having Naruto had noticed that Hao called himself a Shaman, not a Human. Naruto decided that a Shaman was someone who could communicate with Ghosts and use an Oversoul thing. And that humans were people who couldn't see ghosts or could only see them, and couldn't use an Oversoul. So Naruto figured he fell into the human category, except he could manipulate elements, so maybe he should just call himself a shinobi.

—do you really?"

Naruto blinked out of his thoughts.

"I do understand Yoh-kun!" Manta was saying. "We're friends!"

"You may see spirits, but you can't imagine what its like to actually be a shaman." Hao explained. "Humans and Shamans are different."

"Uh, question!" Naruto said bluntly as usual, and both of them looked. "What's the difference between a human and a shaman?"

"Shamans can communicate with nature." Hao told him patiently. "Humans could never have the same deep connection as Shamans do. They can only appreciate nature."

Naruto blinked. "Why's that a bad thing?"

"Humans are destroying the world with their pollution and dim minds. The perfect harmony would be a world of only shamans."

Oh. So that was what they meant by he wanted to destroy humans.

"Well, I think that's stupid." Once again, Naruto's mouth and bluntness got the better of him. "Why not just figure out your goal…without killing innocent people? Its not their fault that they can't see spirits and stuff."

Okay…that was a bit hypocritical. Naruto had killed people for stupider reasons then harming the environment. But from the way Yoh and his friends talked about killing, and that sort of thing, it didn't seem like they were entirely happy with killing people, opting to save people and save lives. Of course, Naruto didn't want to tell him that his job as a ninja was exactly that, to kill people. But it seemed this world had different morals and understandings than his world did. This world was pure, where killing was bad and frowned upon. Back in Konoha, killing was everyday life.

Hao looked like he was about to reply, when he stopped, eyes moving to somewhere down the winding ravine. "They're back."

Naruto blinked. He hadn't noticed until now.

"I'd like to see your potential again, Naruto-kun." Hao smiled pleasantly. "I was surprised when the Hanagumi said you got in their way."

"Hana—what?"

But, before he could receive any sort of answer, Hao had already disappeared, using that same technique that those girls had used. Assuming that those girls worked for Hao—which he was pretty sure _someone_ had said that—and that these girls were the Hanagumi.

"So that's Hao?" Naruto asked no one in particular, but Manta found himself nodding anyways.

"Naruto-san come on! Let's see if Yoh-kun's okay!"

"Oh, good idea." Naruto nodded.

So they ran back over to where Anna and the rest of the people were, and where Yoh and the other boys would be returning. Naturally, Manta's run was the equal of a very slow jog half walk for Naruto, but he humored the boy anyways, it wasn't like he wasn't curious to see what had happened to Yoh or anything. But, he did wish that these boys would get to that village or whatever sooner. Although with people like that girl in an iron casket, and Hao—whom he just met—it was no real question why Yoh and his friends were taking so long to get there.

"Hey Manta?" Naruto asked, as he realized that at the rate they were going it was going to take a while until they got back.

"Yeah?" The boy panted. He really didn't have much stamina.

"Do you always meet up with this Hao person like that?"

Manta made a face. "Well…He wants something with Yoh-kun. I'm not sure, but I think Hao wants Yoh to join him."

"With annihilating humans?" Naruto questioned. Manta nodded. "I honestly don't think Yoh-san would do that."

"I don't either." Manta agreed. "But Hao is always monitoring his progress. He even _wanted _Anna to give Yoh the Chouji Senji Ryakketsu so that he would get stronger!"

"Sounds like someone who wants strong shin—err, shamans on his side." Naruto corrected himself quickly. Before he said ninja, and he gave Manta a clue.

Manta looked at him strangely, before brushing it off. "Yeah. You know any people like that where you come from?"

Naruto grimly remembered Orochimaru and his oversized tongue, and grimaced. "Yeah."

"Actually, that attack you did, was that one of the things your people can do?"

Naruto grinned. "Which one?"

"Both I guess." Manta shrugged.

"Well, like I said, Katon is something most people know how to do." Naruto explained, remembering to slow down to Manta's pace before he sped up. "And the Rasengan was made by my village's leader. It's a powerful move that's meant to be a small hurricane in your hand."

"It sounds powerful." Manta shivered.

"It is." Naruto nodded.

Manta looked as if he was going to say something, before he stopped himself. "Yoh-kun!"

It seemed that Yoh and his friends returned safely, Naruto couldn't see his face from here—or anyone else's for that matter—but it didn't seem that they were attacking or anything. In fact, it didn't look like they were doing anything at all. From their body language and stances, it was hard to tell anything. Manta sprinted forward, and Naruto didn't bother to speed up his pace from the slow one they had been jogging at (at least he was jogging, it seemed Manta was running).

"Yoh-kun!"

If he had heard him, Yoh made no movement.

Naruto was about to shout—and it looked like Anna was going to do the same—for Manta to stop. Just as a precaution, because they didn't know if Yoh, HoroHoro, Ren, Faust, or Ryu had been affected yet. However, a light flashed from somewhere on the cliffs above them. Bright and nearly blinding, there were a group of people dressed solely in white, odd looking and confining clothing (Naruto wondered why these people dressed like this, everyone here actually. It wasn't for comfort, not for flexibility, or fashion.) with a large X patterned on them.

The leader of the small group, pushed up his glasses.

Naruto didn't catch what they were saying in the least, something about new defiled powers and evil and some other things he wasn't paying attention to. What he was paying attention to were the odd looking weapons—it reminded him of snow country. They pointed them at Yoh and his friends, and Naruto wondered if he should step in.

The blond moved his gun forward, unlocking the safety. "Michael."

* * *

_Michael or Micheal is Marco's wierd angel thingy right? Well even if it isnt, thats what I'm going with. Review? Yes? :3_

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End file.
